Was Jesus Born On Tabernacles?
Shalom Steve! During this week millions of Jews in Israel and worldwide are celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles, also known as the Feast of Booths or Sukkot. Could it be that this joyful feast begins exactly on the day Jesus was born?Growing up in Jerusalem, I remember how every year on "Sukkot" (Hebrew for the "Feast of Tabernacles") we used to build our Sukkah (booth) in the small balcony we had in our little condo. It was such a joy to have our meals in this little temporary camping ground, especially being surrounded by all the shiny decorations that we made. I was taught that we Jews celebrate Sukkot to remember how God provided all our needs during the 40 years we lives in booths on our exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land. Little did I know that Sukkot points to the Messiah... let along Jesus, whom I considered to be the God of the Christians.It took another twenty some years for me to realize that this Jesus is really YESHUA, "the King of the Jews," the Messiah of Israel, whom died to atone for the sins of whoever will believe in Him. I was shocked to find out how Jewish Jesus really is! For Heaven's sake, He even died on a very Jewish feast - Passover - just like the Passover lamb in Egypt, shedding His blood to save the people of Israel.As my search continued, I started to see that Passover isn't the only Biblical feast that foreshadows Jesus. The next obvious one was the "Feast of Shavuot" (Pentecost). It was on this Biblical feast when the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus asked the Father to give us, descended from heaven. So it happens that Shavuot was also the feast on which the law was given to Israel when Moses descended from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments. It doesn't seem to be a coincidence, does it?There is no doubt about it - All of the feasts of Israel point prophetically to the Messiah of Israel. These feasts should really be called "appointed times" as this is the correct translation of the Hebrew word "Moadim" (Lev. 23:2). The same verse also clearly indicates that these appointed times are of the Lord. So if the day Jesus died is on one of God's appointed times, wouldn't it make sense that the day Jesus was born is on one of God's appointed times as well?If that's the case, which one of God's appointed times will be Jesus' birthday? First, we need to refresh our memory to the fact that God commanded all the men of Israel to come up to the temple in Jerusalem just on three of His appointed times:Passover, Pentecost and... The Feast of Tabernacles(Deut. 16:16). It is like Sukkot is in the "inner circle" of God's appointed times.Furthermore, God told the people of Israel that on this day they should be "Only rejoicing." (Deut. 16:15) The Hebrew word "Ach" that was translated to English in a variety of ways - only, surely, wholly, completely, altogether, truly, great - emphasizes the extreme level of joy that will be experienced on this appointed time. Joy so abundant that simply doesn't leave room for anything else.Any parent knows firsthand that a birth of a child is probably the greatest joy that one can experience in life. The only greater joy that I can possibly think of is the birth of THE CHILD, the Son of God, the promised Messiah of Israel. Do the scriptures agree with that statement? Let's check.In Psalms 118 we can find some fascinating evidences that tie between Jesus, Tabernacles and great joy.
In verse 14 we find the Hebrew name of Jesus, Yeshua, which means salvation: "The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation." And on the very next verse we read: "The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the Lord does valiantly." (Psalms 118:15) Then, on verse 24, the Psalms says: "This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it."
Very interestingly, Psalms 118 happens to be the last Psalm of what is called the "Hallel", a unit of six Psalms (113-118) that have been read by Israel throughout the generations on the three pilgrimage feasts - including Sukkot! So here we have it: Rejoicing, Tabernacles and Yeshua (Jesus).But does the New Testament supports that? Yes! Remember what the angel told the shepherds on the day Jesus was born? - "I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." (Luke2:10) Now you tell me, can you think of a better day for God to send an angel to proclaim GREAT JOY? Wouldn't it make sense that this will happen on the only day of the year when God told the children of Israel to be nothing but joyfull?Not sure yet? Here's more. We read in Luke 2:6-7 that when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, His mother "laid Him in a manger." Why did she do that? "...becausethere was no place for them in the inn."
Hum... I wonder why there was no place in the inn. Let me remind you again that on these three pilgrimage feasts EVERY Israeli man was commanded to come up to Jerusalem, which is just a few miles from Bethlehem. According to the Jewish Historian Josephus, about 2.5 million Jews from countries all around Israel would come up to Jerusalem on these feasts. Take this from one that lived in Jerusalem most of his life - even today, with all the big hotels in Jerusalem, there would be no way for you to get a hotel room if 2.5 million people would come up to Jerusalem on the same week. Forget about it! You would be lucky to find a place in a manger...Yet there is more. Eight days later, like all Jewish boys, Jesus was circumcised (Luke 2:21). Amazingly, that day "happens to fall" on the last day of the feast of Sukkot, the same 8th day that concludes God's appointed times (Lev. 23:36). Jewish people call this special day "Simchat Torah," meaning "The Joy of the Law."For me, it is quit hard to be "Only rejoicing" on this day. Why? Almost all of my people - well over 99% of us Jews - still don't know the One who came to "tabernacle with us" (John1:14), the One that came to fulfill the law (Mat. 5:17) so that we could be forgiven.
The Good News though is that we are definitely making significant progress in reaching Israel with the Good News! Through our "Hear O Israel" project, almost 80,000 people in ISRAEL have heard the Gospel in their heart language, HEBREW. This is the Word of God itself, verse by verse, chapter by chapter, starting from the Gospel of Matthew. (To see the videos, visit the HEAR O ISRAEL page).
Very soon we will complete the production of Matthew chapter 17. The cost of producing each chapter is $3,000. Then the cost of us reaching one soul in Israel is only 12 cents.
Today we will release a new chapter and promote it in Israel to reach thousands more Israelis with the Gospel! Please pray for the people of Israel to HEAR, BELIEVE and BE SAVED! Steve, knowing that "Faith comes by HEARING, and hearing by the WORD OF CHRIST" (Rom. 10:17) there is nothing more powerful, more effective, or more fruit-bearing, that you and I can do to reach "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" with the Joyful News of the forgiveness and eternal life that only comes through saving faith in Yeshua!Please take one minute to pray for Israel's salvation now and ask God in what way He would have you bless Israel today. Below are a few suggested options:Reach 100 Israelis - $12
Production of one verse - $100Reach 2,500 Israelis - $300Production of five verses - $500Reach 10,000 Israelis - $1,200Production of a chapter - $3,000 With God's grace and with your prayers and support, we can lead Israel to saving faith in their very own Jewish Savior. May God bless you with joy as we serve Him together, Ze'ev
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* This article is a revised and updated version of an article that was written during the Feasts of Tabernacles 2013.
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